Brownie Sundae Challenge 3! [Horizon Tales]
AUTHOR: Shrimp
CHALLENGE: Mango 13: Calling for Backup; Butter Rum 11: Weigh Anchor; Brownie
WORD COUNT: 5,114
RATING: PG-13 (cursing)
NOTES: this follows my first brownie piece and continues the story of Vala and Ekvy and the Ghost Pirates. Sadly, there are not any ghost pirates in this piece but Black Petunia (a character from an earlier piece) makes a reappearance. Also, sorry in advance for my horrible ability at naming ships.
They sailed for three days just the two of them. It was difficult and dangerous; Vala and Ekvy running there and there, trying to be everywhere at once. There were twenty sailors usually, and that wasn’t including Ekvy and Vala whose duties were cleaning and fetching. Now they steered and rigged and tried to make course for the nearest port. By the third day Vala’s arms shook when she lifted them. Her muscles felt heavy and her whole body was sore. There had been little sleep to go around and she wondered how much longer they could keep this up. They hadn’t bridged the topic of what they would do when they got to port. It had hung between them when it was suggested but neither had the heart to break down what little of a plan they had. There was no way they would be able to dock with just the two of them. If there were hands at the port ready and waiting then it wouldn’t be a problem, but one never knew.
When the wind died it was almost a blessing.
The ship slowed and eventually came to an almost stop, the waves and current pushing it lazily onward. Vala bounded to where Ekvy was at the helm. He was draped over the steering wheel with a look of hopelessness across his face. When he saw her he straightened and tried to hide what she had already seen. Vala stopped beside him and used a hand to rub at the pinched ache in her shoulder. Her fingers worked weakly at the knotted muscle between her neck and shoulder. “No wind,” she commented dumbly. Ekvy nodded his head slowly as if worried that agreeing with her might make the wind stay away. He sighed and tilted his head back until he heard a pop in his neck. He looked back at her.
“We’re screwed. You know that, right? I would think that there’s no way you couldn’t know it, but you’ve surprised me before.”
“What’re we gonna do?” She said rather than acknowledging Ekvy’s comment. She saw his lips twitch into a momentary frown before he sighed again.
“Wait it out. The wind might come back pretty soon. Or maybe another ship will come by.” That had been his hope all along. The first thing they had done was raise the flag that would let other vessels know they were in dire need. They hadn’t seen anyone yet. Vala wasn’t sure how vain a hope it was. The seas were vast, after all, and The Merchant’s Mirage often traveled away from the common routes. “Is there anything we should get done while the ship isn’t moving?”
“You could catch a little shut eye,” she offered.
“What about you?” But his eyes were barely open even as he said it. Vala had known how to sail ships as her father had taught her, but nothing she knew came close to the vast network of tasks that made The Merchant’s Mirage run smoothly. With the Captain and Hog and the rest of the crew incapacitated they had fallen into a steady hierarchy. Ekvy was in charge because he was her senior on the ship and because he knew far more about the cargo vessel than she did. So while she had been able to nap here and there for brief moments Ekvy had mostly stayed awake. But a man could only go without sleep for so long and Vala didn’t know what she would do if Ekvy fell sick or worse.
“It’s fine. I have to check on the men anyway. I’ll wake you when I’m done and take a turn myself, all right?” Ekvy gave her a hard look. Maybe he didn’t believe she would wake him immediately. Maybe he couldn’t find it within him to care. He gave her an assenting shrug and shambled off to the corner he had set up for the few moments he could spare for sleep. Neither of them were sleeping below deck at the moment. There was too much need for them to be up and ready swiftly if something occurred. Plus the idea of sleeping with the enchanted men made both their skin crawl.
“You spoil me, Vala,” Ekvy joked as he laid himself down and curled up. She watched him for a few moments until she could see the subtle, even rise and fall of his breathing. Once she was certain he was asleep and not just pretending for her sake she made her way to begin the long and grueling task of keeping the unconscious men in decent condition. The main concern being that they didn’t starve before something could be figured out. Vala didn’t really know what that ‘something’ might wind up being. But she had faith so in the meantime that meant doing whatever she could.
Ekvy had helped in the barest of ways by at least pointing her in the right direction. After all, how did one get sleeping men to eat? Apparently the cook, who mostly doubled as the ship’s doctor as well, had shown Ekvy how to make a thin nutrition potion when Vala was delirious and unresponsive from her fever. Ekvy in turn showed Vala how to make it for the rest of the men. She wasn’t sure how much good it did, most of the time half wound up spilled on the floor from their lax mouths, but anything was better than nothing.
Below deck held the heavy stench of slow growing mildew and unwashed men. It was a combination that permeated the ship during normal times but now was made substantially worse. She stepped carefully in the dim light, conscious of the sound of waves lapping against the hull and the steady, whispering sound of the men’s collective breathes. She and Ekvy had managed to tuck most of them into their cots. The ones who had the top bunks they were forced to relegate to the floor. But Vala had torn the thin cushions from their beds and placed them beneath the bodies. She had covered all the men in their thin sheets. Their comfort was important, though it wasn’t as if they were apt to complain.
Fat John was first. He had collapsed while mounting the steep steps that led out to the upper decks. According to Ekvy it had been the noise of the fall that had roused him from his decidedly not supernatural slumber. Ekvy said Mer were immune to magic and that apparently it was another trait he had absorbed from his half-breed heritage. He had no solution for why Vala had been able to wake herself up. When she had pressed the issue, trusting him to know more about such things as this, he had shrugged and unhelpfully muttered something about her being a woman. Vala knew it was more than that. It had to be. As she lifted Fat John’s head and supported it with her thigh, squeezing the thin liquid into his mouth and rubbing his throat to help it down she recalled her dream.
Shore Shine, the island fortress that had served as the Dorsett family home for three generations though only two of those had been legitimate. A reward for the timely aid of her grandfather to the previous Lord Temen during the last war. Dreaming of being home wasn’t new to Vala. Though Uniss had been terrible and suffocating in its traditions she still missed her family, the things she had known all her life. This dream had been different than the others. It had felt real, actually and truly real. She had smelled her mother’s perfume and heard her sister’s singing. She had felt the air of Uniss, of Shore Shine just as strongly as she felt Fat John and the bobbing ship now. She had been under the same spell as these men. She knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. The question still remained: how had she been able to wake herself?
Man by man she went through and force fed them all. Despite her efforts she thought she could see their cheeks growing wan, their clothes fitting loosely, their bodies slowly wasting away. It might have been in her mind. It might have been a trick of the light. It might have been that she was standing in a room filled with dying men. A shiver ran through her and she picked her way through the bodies back towards the stairs. She would take the spyglass and climb up to the crow’s nest. While Ekvy slept she would scan the horizon for a sign of anything, anyone that might be able to lend them aid. Then, maybe, if they were still stuck and there was no one in sight she would wake her friend and take a nap of her own.
She barely made it halfway out before she heard the excited yells of Ekvy calling her name. Panic gripped her and twisted sickeningly in her guts. They’ve come back, she thought, they’re going to kill us. She took the steps two at a time now, rushing across the deck to where she could see Ekvy near the edge. His hands were upraised and he was waving them. Vala’s panic receded and left her with a dumb, vacant feeling. Ekvy turned slightly, his face split in an almost terrifying grin.
“It’s The Moldy Peach!” He exclaimed before turning back and waving at the ship again. It didn’t seem necessary at this point. The other ship was coming in their direction. Vala couldn’t make it out for certain without the spyglass but it looked like they had raised the reciprocating flag for The Merchant’s Mirage’s distress call. Vala blinked and stared out at the approaching vessel.
“Black Petunia’s ship’s a pirate ship,” she reasoned slowly. “You don’t think they’d just board and take stuff, do you?”
“What’s left to steal? You and me?” He cast a wry look over his shoulder at her. “Personally I wouldn’t mind. Anything to get off his ship at this point. Besides,” he lowered his arms and turned to look at her,” the Captain and Black Petunia are friends.” Vala bit her lip. The old pirate woman frightened her. It wasn’t just the rotting disease that had left her face filled with dry, black holes. Black Petunia was a real pirate, a throat cutter, and most impressively a woman. She was the only woman Vala knew who possessed any real position of authority and power, and over a ship full of men at that. She wanted to admire the woman, to aspire to be like her, but instead she feared her and whatever foul deeds she must have committed to get where she was. “Come on,” Ekvy interrupted her thoughts, “let’s weigh the anchor so we can string together with her ship.”
Vala wanted to argue. Pirates were what had gotten them into this mess in the first place. It seemed counterintuitive to attempt to solve their pirate problem by adding more pirates. But they did work regularly with Black Petunia and they really didn’t have many options to choose between. Instead of saying anything she gave Ekvy a nod and followed him to the bow so they could deploy the anchor. It took their combined strength to unleash the chains that held it in place and she couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would take to get it back up. With a heavy rattle and a loud splash they did it though and without having to be ordered she rushed off to do what she could with the lines and rigging as they patiently awaited The Moldy Peach to reach them.
“Are we going to tell them the truth?” Ekvy asked when everything was as settled as it was likely to be and the other ship was maneuvering into position. He was fighting the urge to fidget. Vala could see it in the way he held his hands tense and still at his sides. She frowned at his question.
“Why wouldn’t we?” He shrugged.
“I don’t know. Ghost pirates that aren’t actually ghosts but who have access to magic is kind of a ridiculous story. Plus, we still don’t know why you aren’t knocked out like the rest of them and that’s probably a question that’s going to come up.” He sighed and tugged a loose string on his shirt until he had made it worse. “We don’t want to come off as guilty of something.”
“You just like lying,” Vala argued.
“You don’t like the things you’re good at?” He questioned in response. Both of them let the conversation die as they caught ropes the other ship tossed to them. They tied them off tightly and waited as the makeshift bridge was set up between the ships. That was the one pleasant thing about The Moldy Peach being a pirate ship, Vala supposed, they were comfortable simply setting up a gangplank to get onboard. Significantly less hassle for Vala and Ekvy who otherwise would have had to heave up a dingy. It wasn’t a task her exhausted muscles felt they could handle.
Five men came on board, shoving their way past the greeting that Ekvy and Vala were offering. They didn’t so much as look at the pair. Vala figured that a young girl and half-Mer were beneath even the scum of pirates to acknowledge with any sort of courtesy. When they noticed no one else on the main deck one of them-bald and skinny-turned on them with a sour expression.
“Where’s the crew?” He squinted at them, eyes darting between the two as if he were trying to decide which one was less terrible to have to interact with. He settled on Vala which earned a longsuffering sigh from Ekvy but no actual commentary. Perhaps working under a woman captain had imbued the man with a slightly more progressive attitude towards women than Vala had originally thought.
“Below. They’re all asleep. Ghost pirates boarded us and put a spell on the ship.” The words hung in the air between the pirates and the smugglers. The bald man turned to share a series of looks with the other men that had come with him. Vala and Ekvy used the moment to do similarly. Ekvy rose an eyebrow and twitched his mouth into a frown. Vala lifted her shoulders in the slightest of shrugs. So maybe he had been right and lying would have been the better idea. She couldn’t help it that she had been raised to believe that honesty was the best policy. Even though it was a bizarre story it was still the truth. Didn’t that count for anything?
“Captain’s gonna wanna talk to you,” the bald man said at last. “We’ll bring ya aboard to parlay with her.” He paused and leaned down to stare into each of their faces. Vala fought the urge to recoil against the scrutiny. “You two the only ones up?” She nodded, hoping that at her side Ekvy was doing the same. “You run this ship just you two?” She nodded again. “How long?”
“Three days,” she stated simply. The man leaned back and put his hands on his hips. He blew a low whistle and glanced over his shoulder at the others.
“Well, ain’t it a funny world we live in, eh?” The pirate took a step forward, herding Vala and Ekvy towards the gangplank. “All right then. No use standing around here. Time to see the Captain.” He nudged Vala until she fell in line behind Ekvy, both taking careful steps across.
“What about them?” She asked over her shoulder at the four pirates who had remained behind. The bald man grinned.
“They’re just gonna have a look around. See that everything you said lines up.” She furrowed her brow. In front of her Ekvy shook his head and muttered,
“Too bad there’s nothing left to steal.” She was grateful now that she had begun carrying her sword on her. It wasn’t particularly valuable but with nothing left it might seem worth taking. She and Ekvy had a little money stashed beneath their bunk. Would they go that far? Would they strip the ship clean to find something to make the rescue worth their while? She touched a hand to the slim sword at her waist and tried to remind herself of what mattered. She had her sword and her father’s ring. She had Ekvy. They were getting help. Everything that had been stolen, everything that might be stolen didn’t matter so long as they could save the lives of the crew.
“This way, this way,” the pirate grumbled behind them as they took the step down from the plank and onto the deck of The Moldy Peach. He placed a hand on Vala’s back to try to lead her. She stiffened and pulled herself away, turning to glare at him and make it perfectly clear that she was not to be touched in any manner. Seeing her face he rolled his eyes and held his hands up so she could see them. “Right, right. Women…” He came around in front of them and easily Vala and Ekvy fell into step behind him. She tried not to feel the weight of the gazes from the men all around them. She wondered how they must look. She with her sun reddened cheeks and her shaggy, uneven hair. She felt self-conscious of her wide hips and round thighs that had only been made worse by the muscle she had begun to put on. And Ekvy beside her, short and thin. His pale hair and dull complexion, flat black eyes and sharp crowded teeth. They were two people wholly condemned for the way they had been born. She swallowed hard and tried to pretend that was not what these pirates were seeing as they looked at them.
The bald man opened the door to the captain’s quarters, announced their arrival, and shuffled off. He barked orders to the other men as he went. Vala and Ekvy entered.
When the door closed behind them Vala had to blink. The captain’s room was dim and dusky despite the earliness of the day. Dark fabric had been draped across the narrow windows to block the light and the effect was a little disorienting. There was a smell of burnt herbs that overlaid another smell, a sweet sour smell that held in Vala’s nostrils even though she couldn’t name its origins. A large woman sat curled comfortably in a plush chair that had been nailed to the floor to keep it from jostling too badly as the ship moved. Even in the vague light Vala could make out the husk of her nose, the subtly in her stained smile. Vala’s skin crawled as her mind registered the hazy smell. Sickness. The cabin smelled of sickness.
“Well, well, Vala No-Wives and the little Mer-boy,” the older woman croaked, swinging her legs out from beneath her and leaning forward to peer at them. Subconsciously Vala angled one of her shoulders in front of Ekvy’s body. In the grand scheme of their friendship she had fallen into the role of brawn while he relegated himself to that of brains. Vala doubted there would be anything she could really do against Black Petunia if it came down to it though. “What can I do for the two of you, eh? Where’s your captain? You’re an improvement over speaking with that lout Hog but it’s a bit strange to me that I’ve got two cabin boys in front of me.”
“There isn’t anyone else left to talk to you,” Vala said.
“Someone cast magic on the crew. We’re the only ones awake,” Ekvy clarified.
“So the stories are true about that? Pirates whose captain knows magic,” Black Petunia said the second part mostly to herself. Her voice held an aspect of disbelief. Not disbelief at their story but disbelief that she was in position where she didn’t doubt them. Vala felt relieved. Some of her trepidations lightened. Maybe Black Petunia wouldn’t do them wrong. She would believe them, at the very least, and from there they could work with her to get help. Suddenly her eyes focused on them sharply. Her good-natured smile running cold as she bared her yellowed teeth and black gums. “It’s bad luck to have the likes of you two aboard a ship. I told Absai that but he always was a stubborn fool. Always let his heart get in the way of his good sense.” She hefted herself out of her seat with a groan and paced towards them. Vala tried not to let her hand fall too obviously to her weapon. “And now you’ve brought a hellish curse upon that ship it seems. Women and Mer,” she spat, a wad of bright phlegm landing loudly between Vala’s boots.
“You’re a woman,” Vala said without thinking. Black Petunia raised an eyebrow and took a few more steps closer. She bent down to Vala’s level, her breath puffing hot and rank into the young girl’s face. She did her best not to wince or turn away at the smell. Vala narrowed her eyes against it all and squared her shoulders. She felt Ekvy’s hand fall tentatively to her arm, beseeching or supporting she couldn’t tell. “And he’s only half,” she continued when the pirate captain said nothing. There was another pause. It was long and tense before the woman’s face cracked in a grin. A sore on her cheek broke at the edges and a thin stream of pus oozed from the deeply infect gouge. She brought a rough hand onto Vala’s shoulder, patting her and shaking her thoroughly. Vala’s mind reeled with the force of the gesture.
“Ha! I knew I liked you No-Wives.” Black Petunia cackled and took steps backwards to an appropriate distance. “There’s no such thing as hellish curses. I was just testing your nerve.” She cackled again and sauntered over to a cabinet built into the wall. “It’s disturbing to hear though. I took all that stuff about the ghost pirates as just tavern talk nonsense.” She pulled a bottle from the cabinet and uncorked it with her teeth, letting the stopper drop onto the cushion of her seat.
“Is there anything you can do to help us?” Vala asked. Ekvy took this as his cue to insert himself more fully into the conversation. He stepped around Vala’s shoulder and held his arms out in an entreating gesture.
“We need to be towed to a port-any port-so we can try and find a healer or something for the men. We don’t have any currently to repay you with since the pirates took all of our cargo but the moment the Captain wakes up I’m sure-“ While Ekvy was speaking Black Petunia was knocking back large quantities of the unnamed and unoffered beverage. She held up a hand to silence him and hissed as she swallowed the substance down.
“We’ll two you no issue. And I keep a healer aboard the Peach. The boys might fear a little magic but it’s not a little that you need to be afraid of. I’ll send him to look at your men.” Ekvy and Vala shared a relieved look between them. “What’s your plan for when you’re docked?” Vala watched as Ekvy ran calculations and plans through his head. His dark eyes sparkled with it. She bit her lip but couldn’t think of anything she might want to say to Black Petunia.
“We don’t know,” Ekvy said honestly. Black Petunia stared at them. Her eyes moved slowly over them, between them, around them. She took another slow sip from the bottle.
“I suppose kids such as you might not know too much about magic. Especially the impossible sort such as has your ship knocked out. In most cases, takes the caster that set the spell to unset it. I don’t think there’s much the likes of you will be able to do while those ghost pirates are still alive.” Vala felt herself crumble inwardly. She had thought it, they both had, but neither had truly ventured to say it out loud. If they couldn’t take the spell off of The Merchant’s Mirage… If they couldn’t do something about the sleeping men… Vala tried to steady her breathing and push the thoughts away. There had to be something else. There just had to be. “How is it you’re not caught with the rest of them, No-Wives?” The pirate asked, gesturing at her with the bottle she had clutched in her hand. Ekvy shot her a warning look thought what he could possibly be warning her about Vala didn’t know.
“I was…” She began hesitantly. To give herself courage she rubbed at her family ring. “But I woke up somehow.” She wanted to say it was because her head had landed in a bucket of water. But it wasn’t true. She and Ekvy had found men drowned, chocked, strangled all by the positions they had fallen unconscious in. They were discomforts that should have woken them but the supernatural sleep had forbidden it. “My ancestors,” Vala started. At her side she saw Ekvy duck his head to avert his gaze. Across from her Black Petunia was looking at her with sharp interest. Her cheeks heated under the sudden feeling of scrutiny and pressure but she continued her explanation all the same. “Where I come from we worship the spirits of our ancestors. We call on them to intercede in our mortal affairs. I dreamed of my home when I was unconscious and I think…” She faltered, uncertain if she was only making a fool of herself. Black Petunia nodded her head for the girl to finish her thought. Vala took a calming breath and started her sentence over. “I dreamed of my family and dreamed of them telling to me to wake up. I think my ancestors must have come to me while I slept and broke the magic.” She shrugged, not really feeling all that much less foolish. “They saved me.”
“Well,” the other woman drawled, “I suppose that’s as good a bit of reasoning as anything else.” She dug her pinky into the seeping wound on her face, burrowing it in to almost the first knuckle. “I’ll send the healer to your ship. In the mean time I want the two of you to catch a bit of sleep, maybe put some food in yourself, and then be prepared to work while drag your ship to safety. No free rides on a pirate ship, I’m afraid.” Her tone was light but when she shooed them off there was a heavy weariness in her movement. Vala heard her set herself back in her seat with a huff of breath. Then the door was closing behind them and Vala and Ekvy were back in the sun.
“I can’t believe you said that to her,” Ekvy complained as they settled themselves into a corner below deck. They had no pillows and no sheets but the thought of sleep was too enticing to be preoccupied with things like that. Ekvy laid with his back against the wall and his arm tucked under his head. Vala was sprawled next to him on her stomach, her arms beneath her chin.
“What?” She questioned.
“That shit about believing in ghosts.” Vala frowned, a hot streak of anger spiraling up her spine.
“What makes it shit?” She tried to keep her agitation out of her voice but couldn’t be sure how successful she was. Ekvy didn’t seem to notice her irritation or at least it didn’t stop him from irritating her further.
“Cause they aren’t real,” he reasoned as if it was obvious. Vala lifted had off of her hands and turned onto her side to face him.
“Where I come from they say Mer aren’t real and yet you’re half of one.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Heaving a small sigh as if she were some petulant child learning a difficult lesson.
“Vala, have you ever seen a ghost? And I mean a real ghost. Not like those assholes with the paint on their faces and not like whatever it was you dreamed about.”
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she exclaimed, rolling over onto her other side and curling into a ball. She could feel Ekvy’s incredulous gaze on her back and it made the fine hairs on her neck stand upright. She closed her eyes tightly and forced herself not to say another word. She counted in her head to calm herself. Next to her she heard Ekvy make a disbelieving, annoyed noise before rolling onto his side as well.
“I’m the asshole,” she heard him muttering, “she gets us trapped with a ship full of dead weight when we could’ve taken a dinghy and been safe on our own and I’m the asshole.”
“If you wanted to leave so badly then why did you even come back?” She shot back, unable to keep her side of the argument to herself. He had said at the time it was because he couldn’t lower the dinghy by himself but after seeing how much they had been able to manage just the two of them she wasn’t sure she believed that any longer.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Does it makes me an asshole to have wanted to make sure that my only friend in the entire stupid world didn’t get murdered by a gang of psychotic idiots playing dress up?”
“No,” Vala responded bitterly. She felt Ekvy shift again behind her, uncomfortable probably with the truth that he had so casually let loose in his aggravation with her.
“Well… good,” he said lamely. Vala curled herself further into a ball until she could feel the dull press of Ekvy’s spine against her own. This was how they slept on The Merchant’s Mirage when their shifts overlapped and they actually had to share their bunk. She swallowed a wave of fatigue induced sadness at the simple thought. She was glad that he had come back and glad that they had each other. Ekvy was her friend. Maybe her only real one as well since he had befriended her for her personality and not for the titles that she had left behind when she ran away.
“You’re my friend too, Ekvy. My best one.” There was a long moment when she thought he would just pretend to be asleep to avoid responding to her confession. When she was just about to allow herself to drift away he mumbled the barely audibly words,
“Well, good.”
CHALLENGE: Mango 13: Calling for Backup; Butter Rum 11: Weigh Anchor; Brownie
WORD COUNT: 5,114
RATING: PG-13 (cursing)
NOTES: this follows my first brownie piece and continues the story of Vala and Ekvy and the Ghost Pirates. Sadly, there are not any ghost pirates in this piece but Black Petunia (a character from an earlier piece) makes a reappearance. Also, sorry in advance for my horrible ability at naming ships.
They sailed for three days just the two of them. It was difficult and dangerous; Vala and Ekvy running there and there, trying to be everywhere at once. There were twenty sailors usually, and that wasn’t including Ekvy and Vala whose duties were cleaning and fetching. Now they steered and rigged and tried to make course for the nearest port. By the third day Vala’s arms shook when she lifted them. Her muscles felt heavy and her whole body was sore. There had been little sleep to go around and she wondered how much longer they could keep this up. They hadn’t bridged the topic of what they would do when they got to port. It had hung between them when it was suggested but neither had the heart to break down what little of a plan they had. There was no way they would be able to dock with just the two of them. If there were hands at the port ready and waiting then it wouldn’t be a problem, but one never knew.
When the wind died it was almost a blessing.
The ship slowed and eventually came to an almost stop, the waves and current pushing it lazily onward. Vala bounded to where Ekvy was at the helm. He was draped over the steering wheel with a look of hopelessness across his face. When he saw her he straightened and tried to hide what she had already seen. Vala stopped beside him and used a hand to rub at the pinched ache in her shoulder. Her fingers worked weakly at the knotted muscle between her neck and shoulder. “No wind,” she commented dumbly. Ekvy nodded his head slowly as if worried that agreeing with her might make the wind stay away. He sighed and tilted his head back until he heard a pop in his neck. He looked back at her.
“We’re screwed. You know that, right? I would think that there’s no way you couldn’t know it, but you’ve surprised me before.”
“What’re we gonna do?” She said rather than acknowledging Ekvy’s comment. She saw his lips twitch into a momentary frown before he sighed again.
“Wait it out. The wind might come back pretty soon. Or maybe another ship will come by.” That had been his hope all along. The first thing they had done was raise the flag that would let other vessels know they were in dire need. They hadn’t seen anyone yet. Vala wasn’t sure how vain a hope it was. The seas were vast, after all, and The Merchant’s Mirage often traveled away from the common routes. “Is there anything we should get done while the ship isn’t moving?”
“You could catch a little shut eye,” she offered.
“What about you?” But his eyes were barely open even as he said it. Vala had known how to sail ships as her father had taught her, but nothing she knew came close to the vast network of tasks that made The Merchant’s Mirage run smoothly. With the Captain and Hog and the rest of the crew incapacitated they had fallen into a steady hierarchy. Ekvy was in charge because he was her senior on the ship and because he knew far more about the cargo vessel than she did. So while she had been able to nap here and there for brief moments Ekvy had mostly stayed awake. But a man could only go without sleep for so long and Vala didn’t know what she would do if Ekvy fell sick or worse.
“It’s fine. I have to check on the men anyway. I’ll wake you when I’m done and take a turn myself, all right?” Ekvy gave her a hard look. Maybe he didn’t believe she would wake him immediately. Maybe he couldn’t find it within him to care. He gave her an assenting shrug and shambled off to the corner he had set up for the few moments he could spare for sleep. Neither of them were sleeping below deck at the moment. There was too much need for them to be up and ready swiftly if something occurred. Plus the idea of sleeping with the enchanted men made both their skin crawl.
“You spoil me, Vala,” Ekvy joked as he laid himself down and curled up. She watched him for a few moments until she could see the subtle, even rise and fall of his breathing. Once she was certain he was asleep and not just pretending for her sake she made her way to begin the long and grueling task of keeping the unconscious men in decent condition. The main concern being that they didn’t starve before something could be figured out. Vala didn’t really know what that ‘something’ might wind up being. But she had faith so in the meantime that meant doing whatever she could.
Ekvy had helped in the barest of ways by at least pointing her in the right direction. After all, how did one get sleeping men to eat? Apparently the cook, who mostly doubled as the ship’s doctor as well, had shown Ekvy how to make a thin nutrition potion when Vala was delirious and unresponsive from her fever. Ekvy in turn showed Vala how to make it for the rest of the men. She wasn’t sure how much good it did, most of the time half wound up spilled on the floor from their lax mouths, but anything was better than nothing.
Below deck held the heavy stench of slow growing mildew and unwashed men. It was a combination that permeated the ship during normal times but now was made substantially worse. She stepped carefully in the dim light, conscious of the sound of waves lapping against the hull and the steady, whispering sound of the men’s collective breathes. She and Ekvy had managed to tuck most of them into their cots. The ones who had the top bunks they were forced to relegate to the floor. But Vala had torn the thin cushions from their beds and placed them beneath the bodies. She had covered all the men in their thin sheets. Their comfort was important, though it wasn’t as if they were apt to complain.
Fat John was first. He had collapsed while mounting the steep steps that led out to the upper decks. According to Ekvy it had been the noise of the fall that had roused him from his decidedly not supernatural slumber. Ekvy said Mer were immune to magic and that apparently it was another trait he had absorbed from his half-breed heritage. He had no solution for why Vala had been able to wake herself up. When she had pressed the issue, trusting him to know more about such things as this, he had shrugged and unhelpfully muttered something about her being a woman. Vala knew it was more than that. It had to be. As she lifted Fat John’s head and supported it with her thigh, squeezing the thin liquid into his mouth and rubbing his throat to help it down she recalled her dream.
Shore Shine, the island fortress that had served as the Dorsett family home for three generations though only two of those had been legitimate. A reward for the timely aid of her grandfather to the previous Lord Temen during the last war. Dreaming of being home wasn’t new to Vala. Though Uniss had been terrible and suffocating in its traditions she still missed her family, the things she had known all her life. This dream had been different than the others. It had felt real, actually and truly real. She had smelled her mother’s perfume and heard her sister’s singing. She had felt the air of Uniss, of Shore Shine just as strongly as she felt Fat John and the bobbing ship now. She had been under the same spell as these men. She knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. The question still remained: how had she been able to wake herself?
Man by man she went through and force fed them all. Despite her efforts she thought she could see their cheeks growing wan, their clothes fitting loosely, their bodies slowly wasting away. It might have been in her mind. It might have been a trick of the light. It might have been that she was standing in a room filled with dying men. A shiver ran through her and she picked her way through the bodies back towards the stairs. She would take the spyglass and climb up to the crow’s nest. While Ekvy slept she would scan the horizon for a sign of anything, anyone that might be able to lend them aid. Then, maybe, if they were still stuck and there was no one in sight she would wake her friend and take a nap of her own.
She barely made it halfway out before she heard the excited yells of Ekvy calling her name. Panic gripped her and twisted sickeningly in her guts. They’ve come back, she thought, they’re going to kill us. She took the steps two at a time now, rushing across the deck to where she could see Ekvy near the edge. His hands were upraised and he was waving them. Vala’s panic receded and left her with a dumb, vacant feeling. Ekvy turned slightly, his face split in an almost terrifying grin.
“It’s The Moldy Peach!” He exclaimed before turning back and waving at the ship again. It didn’t seem necessary at this point. The other ship was coming in their direction. Vala couldn’t make it out for certain without the spyglass but it looked like they had raised the reciprocating flag for The Merchant’s Mirage’s distress call. Vala blinked and stared out at the approaching vessel.
“Black Petunia’s ship’s a pirate ship,” she reasoned slowly. “You don’t think they’d just board and take stuff, do you?”
“What’s left to steal? You and me?” He cast a wry look over his shoulder at her. “Personally I wouldn’t mind. Anything to get off his ship at this point. Besides,” he lowered his arms and turned to look at her,” the Captain and Black Petunia are friends.” Vala bit her lip. The old pirate woman frightened her. It wasn’t just the rotting disease that had left her face filled with dry, black holes. Black Petunia was a real pirate, a throat cutter, and most impressively a woman. She was the only woman Vala knew who possessed any real position of authority and power, and over a ship full of men at that. She wanted to admire the woman, to aspire to be like her, but instead she feared her and whatever foul deeds she must have committed to get where she was. “Come on,” Ekvy interrupted her thoughts, “let’s weigh the anchor so we can string together with her ship.”
Vala wanted to argue. Pirates were what had gotten them into this mess in the first place. It seemed counterintuitive to attempt to solve their pirate problem by adding more pirates. But they did work regularly with Black Petunia and they really didn’t have many options to choose between. Instead of saying anything she gave Ekvy a nod and followed him to the bow so they could deploy the anchor. It took their combined strength to unleash the chains that held it in place and she couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would take to get it back up. With a heavy rattle and a loud splash they did it though and without having to be ordered she rushed off to do what she could with the lines and rigging as they patiently awaited The Moldy Peach to reach them.
“Are we going to tell them the truth?” Ekvy asked when everything was as settled as it was likely to be and the other ship was maneuvering into position. He was fighting the urge to fidget. Vala could see it in the way he held his hands tense and still at his sides. She frowned at his question.
“Why wouldn’t we?” He shrugged.
“I don’t know. Ghost pirates that aren’t actually ghosts but who have access to magic is kind of a ridiculous story. Plus, we still don’t know why you aren’t knocked out like the rest of them and that’s probably a question that’s going to come up.” He sighed and tugged a loose string on his shirt until he had made it worse. “We don’t want to come off as guilty of something.”
“You just like lying,” Vala argued.
“You don’t like the things you’re good at?” He questioned in response. Both of them let the conversation die as they caught ropes the other ship tossed to them. They tied them off tightly and waited as the makeshift bridge was set up between the ships. That was the one pleasant thing about The Moldy Peach being a pirate ship, Vala supposed, they were comfortable simply setting up a gangplank to get onboard. Significantly less hassle for Vala and Ekvy who otherwise would have had to heave up a dingy. It wasn’t a task her exhausted muscles felt they could handle.
Five men came on board, shoving their way past the greeting that Ekvy and Vala were offering. They didn’t so much as look at the pair. Vala figured that a young girl and half-Mer were beneath even the scum of pirates to acknowledge with any sort of courtesy. When they noticed no one else on the main deck one of them-bald and skinny-turned on them with a sour expression.
“Where’s the crew?” He squinted at them, eyes darting between the two as if he were trying to decide which one was less terrible to have to interact with. He settled on Vala which earned a longsuffering sigh from Ekvy but no actual commentary. Perhaps working under a woman captain had imbued the man with a slightly more progressive attitude towards women than Vala had originally thought.
“Below. They’re all asleep. Ghost pirates boarded us and put a spell on the ship.” The words hung in the air between the pirates and the smugglers. The bald man turned to share a series of looks with the other men that had come with him. Vala and Ekvy used the moment to do similarly. Ekvy rose an eyebrow and twitched his mouth into a frown. Vala lifted her shoulders in the slightest of shrugs. So maybe he had been right and lying would have been the better idea. She couldn’t help it that she had been raised to believe that honesty was the best policy. Even though it was a bizarre story it was still the truth. Didn’t that count for anything?
“Captain’s gonna wanna talk to you,” the bald man said at last. “We’ll bring ya aboard to parlay with her.” He paused and leaned down to stare into each of their faces. Vala fought the urge to recoil against the scrutiny. “You two the only ones up?” She nodded, hoping that at her side Ekvy was doing the same. “You run this ship just you two?” She nodded again. “How long?”
“Three days,” she stated simply. The man leaned back and put his hands on his hips. He blew a low whistle and glanced over his shoulder at the others.
“Well, ain’t it a funny world we live in, eh?” The pirate took a step forward, herding Vala and Ekvy towards the gangplank. “All right then. No use standing around here. Time to see the Captain.” He nudged Vala until she fell in line behind Ekvy, both taking careful steps across.
“What about them?” She asked over her shoulder at the four pirates who had remained behind. The bald man grinned.
“They’re just gonna have a look around. See that everything you said lines up.” She furrowed her brow. In front of her Ekvy shook his head and muttered,
“Too bad there’s nothing left to steal.” She was grateful now that she had begun carrying her sword on her. It wasn’t particularly valuable but with nothing left it might seem worth taking. She and Ekvy had a little money stashed beneath their bunk. Would they go that far? Would they strip the ship clean to find something to make the rescue worth their while? She touched a hand to the slim sword at her waist and tried to remind herself of what mattered. She had her sword and her father’s ring. She had Ekvy. They were getting help. Everything that had been stolen, everything that might be stolen didn’t matter so long as they could save the lives of the crew.
“This way, this way,” the pirate grumbled behind them as they took the step down from the plank and onto the deck of The Moldy Peach. He placed a hand on Vala’s back to try to lead her. She stiffened and pulled herself away, turning to glare at him and make it perfectly clear that she was not to be touched in any manner. Seeing her face he rolled his eyes and held his hands up so she could see them. “Right, right. Women…” He came around in front of them and easily Vala and Ekvy fell into step behind him. She tried not to feel the weight of the gazes from the men all around them. She wondered how they must look. She with her sun reddened cheeks and her shaggy, uneven hair. She felt self-conscious of her wide hips and round thighs that had only been made worse by the muscle she had begun to put on. And Ekvy beside her, short and thin. His pale hair and dull complexion, flat black eyes and sharp crowded teeth. They were two people wholly condemned for the way they had been born. She swallowed hard and tried to pretend that was not what these pirates were seeing as they looked at them.
The bald man opened the door to the captain’s quarters, announced their arrival, and shuffled off. He barked orders to the other men as he went. Vala and Ekvy entered.
When the door closed behind them Vala had to blink. The captain’s room was dim and dusky despite the earliness of the day. Dark fabric had been draped across the narrow windows to block the light and the effect was a little disorienting. There was a smell of burnt herbs that overlaid another smell, a sweet sour smell that held in Vala’s nostrils even though she couldn’t name its origins. A large woman sat curled comfortably in a plush chair that had been nailed to the floor to keep it from jostling too badly as the ship moved. Even in the vague light Vala could make out the husk of her nose, the subtly in her stained smile. Vala’s skin crawled as her mind registered the hazy smell. Sickness. The cabin smelled of sickness.
“Well, well, Vala No-Wives and the little Mer-boy,” the older woman croaked, swinging her legs out from beneath her and leaning forward to peer at them. Subconsciously Vala angled one of her shoulders in front of Ekvy’s body. In the grand scheme of their friendship she had fallen into the role of brawn while he relegated himself to that of brains. Vala doubted there would be anything she could really do against Black Petunia if it came down to it though. “What can I do for the two of you, eh? Where’s your captain? You’re an improvement over speaking with that lout Hog but it’s a bit strange to me that I’ve got two cabin boys in front of me.”
“There isn’t anyone else left to talk to you,” Vala said.
“Someone cast magic on the crew. We’re the only ones awake,” Ekvy clarified.
“So the stories are true about that? Pirates whose captain knows magic,” Black Petunia said the second part mostly to herself. Her voice held an aspect of disbelief. Not disbelief at their story but disbelief that she was in position where she didn’t doubt them. Vala felt relieved. Some of her trepidations lightened. Maybe Black Petunia wouldn’t do them wrong. She would believe them, at the very least, and from there they could work with her to get help. Suddenly her eyes focused on them sharply. Her good-natured smile running cold as she bared her yellowed teeth and black gums. “It’s bad luck to have the likes of you two aboard a ship. I told Absai that but he always was a stubborn fool. Always let his heart get in the way of his good sense.” She hefted herself out of her seat with a groan and paced towards them. Vala tried not to let her hand fall too obviously to her weapon. “And now you’ve brought a hellish curse upon that ship it seems. Women and Mer,” she spat, a wad of bright phlegm landing loudly between Vala’s boots.
“You’re a woman,” Vala said without thinking. Black Petunia raised an eyebrow and took a few more steps closer. She bent down to Vala’s level, her breath puffing hot and rank into the young girl’s face. She did her best not to wince or turn away at the smell. Vala narrowed her eyes against it all and squared her shoulders. She felt Ekvy’s hand fall tentatively to her arm, beseeching or supporting she couldn’t tell. “And he’s only half,” she continued when the pirate captain said nothing. There was another pause. It was long and tense before the woman’s face cracked in a grin. A sore on her cheek broke at the edges and a thin stream of pus oozed from the deeply infect gouge. She brought a rough hand onto Vala’s shoulder, patting her and shaking her thoroughly. Vala’s mind reeled with the force of the gesture.
“Ha! I knew I liked you No-Wives.” Black Petunia cackled and took steps backwards to an appropriate distance. “There’s no such thing as hellish curses. I was just testing your nerve.” She cackled again and sauntered over to a cabinet built into the wall. “It’s disturbing to hear though. I took all that stuff about the ghost pirates as just tavern talk nonsense.” She pulled a bottle from the cabinet and uncorked it with her teeth, letting the stopper drop onto the cushion of her seat.
“Is there anything you can do to help us?” Vala asked. Ekvy took this as his cue to insert himself more fully into the conversation. He stepped around Vala’s shoulder and held his arms out in an entreating gesture.
“We need to be towed to a port-any port-so we can try and find a healer or something for the men. We don’t have any currently to repay you with since the pirates took all of our cargo but the moment the Captain wakes up I’m sure-“ While Ekvy was speaking Black Petunia was knocking back large quantities of the unnamed and unoffered beverage. She held up a hand to silence him and hissed as she swallowed the substance down.
“We’ll two you no issue. And I keep a healer aboard the Peach. The boys might fear a little magic but it’s not a little that you need to be afraid of. I’ll send him to look at your men.” Ekvy and Vala shared a relieved look between them. “What’s your plan for when you’re docked?” Vala watched as Ekvy ran calculations and plans through his head. His dark eyes sparkled with it. She bit her lip but couldn’t think of anything she might want to say to Black Petunia.
“We don’t know,” Ekvy said honestly. Black Petunia stared at them. Her eyes moved slowly over them, between them, around them. She took another slow sip from the bottle.
“I suppose kids such as you might not know too much about magic. Especially the impossible sort such as has your ship knocked out. In most cases, takes the caster that set the spell to unset it. I don’t think there’s much the likes of you will be able to do while those ghost pirates are still alive.” Vala felt herself crumble inwardly. She had thought it, they both had, but neither had truly ventured to say it out loud. If they couldn’t take the spell off of The Merchant’s Mirage… If they couldn’t do something about the sleeping men… Vala tried to steady her breathing and push the thoughts away. There had to be something else. There just had to be. “How is it you’re not caught with the rest of them, No-Wives?” The pirate asked, gesturing at her with the bottle she had clutched in her hand. Ekvy shot her a warning look thought what he could possibly be warning her about Vala didn’t know.
“I was…” She began hesitantly. To give herself courage she rubbed at her family ring. “But I woke up somehow.” She wanted to say it was because her head had landed in a bucket of water. But it wasn’t true. She and Ekvy had found men drowned, chocked, strangled all by the positions they had fallen unconscious in. They were discomforts that should have woken them but the supernatural sleep had forbidden it. “My ancestors,” Vala started. At her side she saw Ekvy duck his head to avert his gaze. Across from her Black Petunia was looking at her with sharp interest. Her cheeks heated under the sudden feeling of scrutiny and pressure but she continued her explanation all the same. “Where I come from we worship the spirits of our ancestors. We call on them to intercede in our mortal affairs. I dreamed of my home when I was unconscious and I think…” She faltered, uncertain if she was only making a fool of herself. Black Petunia nodded her head for the girl to finish her thought. Vala took a calming breath and started her sentence over. “I dreamed of my family and dreamed of them telling to me to wake up. I think my ancestors must have come to me while I slept and broke the magic.” She shrugged, not really feeling all that much less foolish. “They saved me.”
“Well,” the other woman drawled, “I suppose that’s as good a bit of reasoning as anything else.” She dug her pinky into the seeping wound on her face, burrowing it in to almost the first knuckle. “I’ll send the healer to your ship. In the mean time I want the two of you to catch a bit of sleep, maybe put some food in yourself, and then be prepared to work while drag your ship to safety. No free rides on a pirate ship, I’m afraid.” Her tone was light but when she shooed them off there was a heavy weariness in her movement. Vala heard her set herself back in her seat with a huff of breath. Then the door was closing behind them and Vala and Ekvy were back in the sun.
“I can’t believe you said that to her,” Ekvy complained as they settled themselves into a corner below deck. They had no pillows and no sheets but the thought of sleep was too enticing to be preoccupied with things like that. Ekvy laid with his back against the wall and his arm tucked under his head. Vala was sprawled next to him on her stomach, her arms beneath her chin.
“What?” She questioned.
“That shit about believing in ghosts.” Vala frowned, a hot streak of anger spiraling up her spine.
“What makes it shit?” She tried to keep her agitation out of her voice but couldn’t be sure how successful she was. Ekvy didn’t seem to notice her irritation or at least it didn’t stop him from irritating her further.
“Cause they aren’t real,” he reasoned as if it was obvious. Vala lifted had off of her hands and turned onto her side to face him.
“Where I come from they say Mer aren’t real and yet you’re half of one.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Heaving a small sigh as if she were some petulant child learning a difficult lesson.
“Vala, have you ever seen a ghost? And I mean a real ghost. Not like those assholes with the paint on their faces and not like whatever it was you dreamed about.”
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she exclaimed, rolling over onto her other side and curling into a ball. She could feel Ekvy’s incredulous gaze on her back and it made the fine hairs on her neck stand upright. She closed her eyes tightly and forced herself not to say another word. She counted in her head to calm herself. Next to her she heard Ekvy make a disbelieving, annoyed noise before rolling onto his side as well.
“I’m the asshole,” she heard him muttering, “she gets us trapped with a ship full of dead weight when we could’ve taken a dinghy and been safe on our own and I’m the asshole.”
“If you wanted to leave so badly then why did you even come back?” She shot back, unable to keep her side of the argument to herself. He had said at the time it was because he couldn’t lower the dinghy by himself but after seeing how much they had been able to manage just the two of them she wasn’t sure she believed that any longer.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Does it makes me an asshole to have wanted to make sure that my only friend in the entire stupid world didn’t get murdered by a gang of psychotic idiots playing dress up?”
“No,” Vala responded bitterly. She felt Ekvy shift again behind her, uncomfortable probably with the truth that he had so casually let loose in his aggravation with her.
“Well… good,” he said lamely. Vala curled herself further into a ball until she could feel the dull press of Ekvy’s spine against her own. This was how they slept on The Merchant’s Mirage when their shifts overlapped and they actually had to share their bunk. She swallowed a wave of fatigue induced sadness at the simple thought. She was glad that he had come back and glad that they had each other. Ekvy was her friend. Maybe her only real one as well since he had befriended her for her personality and not for the titles that she had left behind when she ran away.
“You’re my friend too, Ekvy. My best one.” There was a long moment when she thought he would just pretend to be asleep to avoid responding to her confession. When she was just about to allow herself to drift away he mumbled the barely audibly words,
“Well, good.”